Parashat Emor spells out the ritual life of the Jewish people. Within Emor the calendar is set forth a second time, now within the context of the holiness of the Israelites.
The frequent reiteration of sacred days and rituals shows that we are a people of ritual, marking sacred time and space through our days, our months, and our years. God speaks to Moshe, saying, “These are the Lord’s special days, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions.” These times are ordained by God.
Ritual recreates the profane as sacred. From birth to death we measure our lives with sanctified moments. By designating a weekly Shabbat our weeks and days take on special meaning. Through Rosh Hodesh our months take on special significance. Through the marking of time from Sukkot to Pesach to Shavuot we make our history holy.
But our calendar and our rituals go beyond simply marking the moments. Through our rituals we re-experience our history, sharing our collective memory, taking pride and solace in the shared experience of our people. At Hanukah we recreate the miracle of the oil, modifying it to increase its light, instead of decreasing. On Tisha B’Av we physically reenact our mourning over the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. The Shalosh Regalim reenact our travel from Yitziat Mitzraiyim at Pesach, to Har Sinai on Shavuot, to Sukkot and our forty years of wandering in the midbar. Through doing we experience. Through experience we gain knowledge. Psalm 90 reads, “Teach us to number our days, that we gain a heart of wisdom.”
If we can do this together there will be no end to the sanctity of our memories, our moments, and our futures together.
